Good Old Days

125 years ago

June 24, 1887

The exercises of laying the corner stone of Colfax College were conducted with appropriate ceremonies on Tuesday evening. Hon. J.A. Perkins was master of ceremonies. Limited space precludes an extended notice of the many speakers who made remarks full of encouragement for the success of the college. The exercises were interesting and the audience not bored by long speeches, which is something unusual on occasions of this kind.

The city marshal will no longer permit the streets of Colfax to be used as a race track or an exhibition gound for the purpose of “showing off” on bucking cayuses. On Saturday Indians used Main street for a corral in which to lasso wild horses to the imminent peril of many women and children.

Pullman has met the fate of all wooden towns and gone through the inevitable fiery ordeal which leaves the business part of the town, where its wealth was concentrated, a heap of black ruins. Total loss is estimated at $75,000, with insurance of about $45,000. About 1 o’clock Sunday afternoon smoke was seen issuing from the roof of Orville Stewart’s new dwelling. The omnipresent small boy yelled out “Fire!” and a battle commenced. A strong south westerly wind blew the fire uptown.

Mr. Jo. Vincent of Lewiston has been looking for the dead Chinamen that were murdered on Snake River about 120 miles above Lewiston. They found one body in a pile of driftwood at Log Cabin island, one was found at the lime kiln above Lewiston and one at Penawawa. All show marks of having been murdered. There were ten in the camp and were known to have had over $3,000 in gold dust. Mr. Vincent has been employed by the Chinamen to investigate the matter and as soon as he returns to Lewiston he will start up to the camp where the Chinamen were killed and see if he can get on track of the murderers.

A young railroader named Albert Laney, somewhat under the influence of liquor, untied a horse from a post at Palouse City Sunday and rode it over to Garfield where he sold it, together with saddle and bridle, for $15. Laney was arrested and brought to Colfax and lodged in jail. Laney told the officer he would probably have gotten into trouble anyhow, as he and a friend had agreed to “hold up” a man on Sunday night whom they knew to have $90. Their intended victim left town, so the only way left for him to make a stake was to steal a horse.

Monday afternoon a man offered to bet a sum of money that he had a horse nobody could ride. A bronco rider at once took the bet. The parties repaired to the upper end of town to decide the matter, about a hundred men trudging through the hot sun to see the fun. To the disgust of the spectators, the horse walked off as quietly as the most timid an equestrian could desire.

100 years ago

June 28, 1912

By unanimous vote, the council from Coiryell & Thomason for a renewal of a license for the B&C Saloon was rejected Monday evening. The chairman of the police committee requested the council meet on the application as a committee of the whole to receive the report. Following the private discussion, the application was rejected.

The general store owned by J.C. Wild at Lancaster was destroyed by fire last week. Loss is estimated at $10,000, with $6,500 insurance. Mr. Wild plans to have a new building in readiness by winter.

Wheat sacks are already quoted at 11 cents, which is one cent higher than the top price last year. There are practically no sacks to be had at the present time and the price will most certainly go higher before the end of harvest. Farmers who contracted with the farmers union weeks ago pay between eight and nine cents. Twine is 45 cents a pound compared with 40 cents last year.

No more vaudeville entertainments will be allowed at the Pastime theater Sunday evenings and vaudeville acts and pictures will be subject to censorship by the police committee. These provisions were included in the license granted by the council to R.G. Clendenin to operate the theater.

E.A. Schilling, watchmaker for O.C. Glaser, is off duty at the store for a day or two while he is waiting for his eyes to recover from an intimate association with a swarm of honey bees which he attempted to shoo into a hive.

75 years ago

June 27, 1937

The sixth bombing episode in as many years took place in Oakesdale, leading to the arrest of Elbert Stoecker, 41, farmer from Oakesdale. Stoecker was close-mouthed in respect to his having had in possession the bomb that exploded near the Oakesdale Tribune office and had nothing to say about the other bombings.

Delmas Bailey and Glenn Brazil, both of Lubbock, Tex., were sentenced to 15 to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to vagrancy following an arrest in Rosalia. The pair failed to obey the commands of a Rosalia officer not to discard in that town the top of their automobile which had been torn loose when they ditched their car north of town. The accident stemmed from a struggle when Brazil refused to unwrap a box of candy at Bailey’s request. Brazil had 36 auto ignition keys concealed in his shoes. Bailey had six.

50 years ago

June 28, 1962

The Colfax Fire department telephone numbers will change Friday. Residents are to call EXbrook -3415 to report fires. Other business may be transacted over EXbrook7 -3416.

Scouts of Cub Pack No. 95 are collecting empty 2-4D barrels to be sold to help the program.

Juvenile delinquency in Whitman County decreased 38 percent from 1960 during 1961, according to probation officer Norris Lombard. There were 62 delinquent referals last year, compared to 101 in 1960. During 1961, 49 boys and 13 girls were referred.

12:01 Sunday morning is “zero hour” for telephone customers in LaCrosse, Endicott and Winona, with dial service scheduled to begin then for approximately 700 phones served by the new Pioneer Telephone Co. The pleasant voice of an operator asking “Number, please?” will be replaced by the business-like buzz of a dial tone, ending the era of personal service by dedicated people like Mrs. Edward Lust, Mrs. James Jordan and Mrs. Lottie Gould.

25 years ago

June 25, 1987

Television sets went blank for approximately half the homes in Colfax Monday night when a fire took out the control building of High Line Television Co. The High Line system is one of two cable companies that serve Colfax and now has about 540 subscribers.

Traffic on the Burlington Northern railroad line that runs through Lamont, Washtucna and Hooper, will stop as of June 29 and be rerouted to another BN line from Fish Lake to Pasco via Ritzville. BN will then file for abandonment of the line that dips into Whitman County.

Endicott held a special program to mark its last graduating class. Endicott and St. John districts will begin a cooperative program next year that will place the high school at St. John. Rick Repp was valedictorian and Scott Ackerman salutatorian. Other grads were Donald Britton, Marvin Moon, Tesa Poland and Matt Saavedra.

Of 40 tests for AIDS conducted by the county health department since October, one tested positive. The positive test was made about a month ago. All 40 came into the office and requested the test.

10 years ago

June 27, 2002

The lone one-way street in Colfax was converted back to a two-way street this week following approval by the city council. One block of Upton Street between Main and Mill was converted to a one-way street because of heavy use by commercial trucks parked along the street. Administrator Emily Adams said demand for the space along the street has diminished with the move of Harrison Electric to Sumner Street. The Harrison building has been purchased by the county.

Colfax Chief Barney Buckley was asked to check the possibility of adding a general curfew law for juveniles to the city’s books. Councilman John Brabb said he would like the city to consider a law because of the number of juveniles who are on the streets at late night hours. The presence of teens under 18, who can be seen skate boarding in downtown parking lots, said Brabb, wasn’t acceptable.

The Garfield Hospital District is considering a 16-unit $1.1 million assisted living facility on the site occupied by the former Grange building.